IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


u. 


1.0 


I.I 


'-  lis    1 2.2 

-  lis  lllllio 


lllll^ 


IL25  iiiiu  iiiiii.6 


6" 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notas  tachniquat  at  bibllographlquaa 


Tha  Inatituta  haa  attamptad  to  ob*jiin  tha  baat 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturaa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  bibllographicaily  unlqua, 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagaa  in  tha 
raproduction,  or  which  may  aignificantly  changa 
tha  uaual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chaclcad  balow. 


D 


D 


D 
D 


D 


D 


Colourad  covara/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 


I     I   Covara  damagad/ 


Couvartura  andommag4a 


Covara  raatorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  raataurAa  at/ou  paiiicuite 


□   Covar  titia  miaaing/ 
La 


titra  da  couvartura  manqua 

Colourad  mapa/ 

Cartea  gAographiquaa  an  coulaur 

Colourad  Ink  (l.a.  othar  than  blua  or  black)/ 
Encra  da  coulaur  (i.a.  autra  qua  blaua  ou  noira) 

Colourad  plataa  and/or  iiluatrations/ 
Planchaa  at/ou  iiluatrations  en  coulaur 


Bound  with  othar  material/ 
Raiii  avac  d'autraa  documanta 

Tight  binding  may  causa  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  serrAe  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  la  long  da  la  marge  intArieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  reatoration  may 
appear  within  tha  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certainaa  pages  blanches  ajoutAes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  la  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  Atait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  AtA  filmtes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplAmentaires: 


L'Institut  a  microfilmi  la  meilleur  exemplaira 
qu'il  lui  a  *t*  poaaibia  da  se  procurer.  Lea  details 
da  cet  exemplaira  qui  aont  paut-Atra  uniquaa  du 
point  da  vue  bibliographiqua,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mAthoda  normaia  de  filmage 
aont  indiqute  ci-daaaoua. 


r~~1   Colourad  pagea/ 


D 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmi  au  taux  da  reduction  indiqui  ci-dessous. 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pagea  andommagAaa 

Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  rastaur^aa  at/ou  pellicultes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxet 
Pages  d6colortes,  tachetAas  ou  piquAas 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ditachtes 

Showthroughy 
Tranaparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Qualiti  in^gaia  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materii 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplAmentaire 


I — I  Pages  damaged/ 

I — I  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

nn  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

I     I  Pages  detached/ 

r^  Showthrough/ 

I      I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 


I — I    Only  edition  available/ 


Seuie  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partieliement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata.  une  pelure, 
etc..  ont  M  filmies  A  nouveau  de  fa^on  A 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


P 

o 


C 
b 
tt 

si 

o 

fi 

si 

Ol 


Tl 
s» 
Tl 
w 

M 
di 
er 
bfl 

riC 
rei 
m( 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

J 

12X 

16X 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

Th«  copy  filmad  h«r«  has  b««n  raproducad  thank* 
to  th*  ganorotity  of: 

Library  of  tho  Public 
Archivas  of  Cartada 


L'axampiaira  f  ilmA  f  ut  raproduit  grica  i  la 
g4»n4rositA  da: 

La  bibilothiqua  dat  Archivas 
publiquas  du  Canada 


Tha  imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  eonaidaring  tha  condition  and  laglbility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacif ications. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covara  ara  filmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impraa- 
sion,  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copias  ara  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impras- 
sion,  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illuatratad  imprassion. 


Las  imagas  suivantas  ont  4t*  raprduitas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattatA  da  l'axampiaira  film*,  at  9n 
conformity  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 

Laa  axamplairas  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  •n 
papiar  aat  imprimia  sont  fiimAs  •n  commandant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darnlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustratton,  soit  par  la  sacond 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  las  autras  axamplairas 
originaux  sont  filmAs  an  comman9ant  par  la 
pramlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darnlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  talla 
amprainta. 


Tha  last  racordad  frama  on  aach  microficha 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  —^  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  V  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  applias. 


Un  das  symbolas  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
darnlAra  imaga  da  chaqua  microficha,  salon  la 
cas:  la  symbols  — »» signifia  "A  SUIVRE".  la 
symbols  V  signifia  "FIN". 


Maps,  platas,  charts,  ate,  may  ba  filmad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratios.  Thosa  too  larga  to  ba 
antiraly  includad  in  ona  axposura  ara  filmad 
baginning  in  tha  uppar  laft  hand  cornar,  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  framaa  as 
raquirad.  Tha  following  diagrama  illustrata  tha 
mathod: 


Las  cartas,  planchas,  tablaaux,  ate,  pauvant  Atra 
filmto  A  das  taux  da  reduction  diffArants. 
Lorsqua  la  documant  ast  trop  grand  pour  Atra 
raproduit  an  un  saul  clichA,  11  ast  filmA  A  partir 
da  I'angia  supAriaur  gaucha,  da  gaucha  A  droita, 
at  da  haut  an  tMs,  an  pranant  la  nombra 
d'imagas  nAcassaira.  Las  diagrammas  suivants 
illustrant  la  mAthoda. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

THE 


Niagara   (Region 


IN 


History 


By  Peter  A.  Porter 


Reprinted  from  the  Niagara  Power  Number  of  Casnier's  Magazine 


NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON 
1895 


X 


Copyri((litei)  by  llic 
CASSIKR    MACAZINK  CO. 

1895 


AI,I.   KIC.IITS  I<KSI:KVI5D 


T^O^/^ofc^ 


Pkter  a.  Porter  is  prominently  identi- 
fied with  the  interests  of  the  city  of  Niagara 
Palls.  As  a  member  of  the  New  York  State 
I^egislature  in  1686,  he  introduced  the  Niagara 
Tunnel  Bill,  under  which  the  Niagara  power 
is  now  being  developed. 


THE   NIAGARA   REGION    IN   HISTORY. 


nv  l\l,>    A.   IWIcr. 


TIIP.  OLD  STONE  CIIIMNKV  AT 
NIAUARA,  liriLT  IN   I75O. 


IN  1764  Sir  William  Jolin- 
soii,  commaiulcr  of  the 
English  forces  in  the 
Niagara  region,  supplement- 
ing the  treaty  of  the  preced- 
ing year  between  England 
France,  assembled  all 
the  Indian  warriors  of 
that  region,  some  2000 
,  in  number,  comprising 
chiefly  the  hostile  Sen- 
ecas,  at  Fort  Niagara, 
and  acquired  from 
them,  for  the  English 
Crown,  together  with 
other  territory,  a  strip 
of  land,  four  miles 
wide,  on  each  bank  of  the  Niagara  river 
(the  islands  being  excejited)  from  Lake 
Erie  to  Lake  Ontario.  The  Senecas  also 
ceded  to  him,  personally,  at  this  time, 
"as  proof  of  their  regard  and  of  their 
knowledge  of  the  trouble  which  he  had 
had  with  them  from  time  to  time,"  all 
the  islands  in  the  Niagara  river,  and  he, 
in  turn,  as  compelled  by  the  military 
law  of  that  period,  ceded  them  to  his 
Sovereign. 

It  is  ot  the  territory  included  in 
the  above  two  grants,  a  region  now 
popularly  known  as  "the  Niagara 
frontier,"  that  the  writer  proposes  to 
treat.  And  a  famed  and  famous  terri- 
tory it  is,  for  it  would  be  difificult  to  find 
anywhere  else  an  eciual  area  of  country 
(36  miles  long  and  8  miles  broad,  be- 
sides the  islands)  around  which  cluster 
so  many,  so  important  and  such  varied 
associations  as  one  finds  there. 

Through  its  centre  flows  the  grand 
Niagara  river,  between  whose  banks  the 
waters  of  four  great  lakes, — the  water- 
shed of  almost  half  a  continent, — find 
their  way  to  the  ocean  ;  and  through 
the  centre  of  the  deepest  channel  of  this 
river  runs  the  boundary  line  between 


the  two  great  nations  of  North  Amer- 
ica. In  it  arc  located  the  I'alls  of  Ni- 
agara, the  ideal  waterfall  of  the  universe; 
in  it  are  found  the  two  government 
|)arks  or  reservations,  established,  re- 
spectively, by  the  State  of  New  York 
and  the  province  of  Ontario,  in  order 
that  the  immediate  surroundings  of  Ni- 
agara might  be  preserved,  as  nearly  as 
possible,  in  their  natural  state  and  be 
forever  free  to  all  mankind.  In  it  one 
meets  with  many  and  wondrous  aspects 
of  natural  scenery  ;  in  it  one  finds  geo- 
logic records,  laid  bare  along  the  river's 
chasm  by  the  force  of  the  water  thou- 
sands of  years  ago,  and  which  hold  so 
high  a  place  in  that  science,  that  among 
its  classifications  the  name  Niagara  is 
applied  to  one  of  thegrouj)s.  In  it  are 
found  botanic  specimens  of  beauty  and 
rarity,  and  it  is  stated  that  on  Goat 
Island,  embracing  80  acres,  are  to  be 
found  a  greater  number  of  species  and 
flora  than  can  be  found  in  an  etjual  area 
anywhere  else.  In  it  are  to  be  found, 
also,  the  development  of  hydraulic  en- 
terprises which  are  regarded  as  stupen- 
dous even  in  this  age  of  marvels  ;  while 
as  to  places  noted  for  historic  interest, 
one  may  truly  .say  that  it  is  all  historic 
ground. 

Within  sight  of  the  spray  of  the  Falls 
the  red  men,  in  ages  long  gone  by, 
lived,  held  their  councils,  waged  their 
inhuman  warfares  and  offered  up  their 
human  sacrifices.  To  this  Niagara  re- 
gion long  ago  came  the  adventurous 
French  traders,  the  forerunners  of  the 
"  coureurs  de  bois,"  believed  to  have 
been  the  first  white  men  who  ever  gazed 
upon  the  Falls,  though  the  name  of  the 
man  to  whom  that  honour  belongs,  and 
the  e.xact  date  at  which  he  saw  them 
will  probably  forever  remain  unknown. 

Across  Niagara's  rapid  stream  went 
several  of  the  early  missionaries  of  the 


N/AGAR  A    JX   ///STORY. 


VIIK    l-lKSr   KNllW.N    I'lLlTKK  til'    NIAliAUA    1  AI.I.S. 

(From  Pnther  Ileiineiiin'ii  "  Noiivelle  Uecouvcrle,"  1697.) 


Catholic  church  as  they  carrictl  the  j,n)s- 
pel  to  the  v.uious  lucHaii  trilies  in  the 
unknown  wiltlerness.  To  this  rcj^^ion 
came  the  Trench,  first  ottki.illy  in  tin- 
person  of  La  Salle;  after',  irds,  by  their 
armies,  seeking  con(im^t  and  the  con- 
•"ol  of  the  fur  trade.  At  the  mouth  of 
the  Niagara  river  the  French  established 
one  of  their  most  important  posts. 
There  they  traded  with,  conferred  with 
and  intriguetl  with  the  Indians,  making 
firm  friends  of  st)nie  of  the  tribes  and 
bitter  enemies  of  others  ;  and  during 
the  fourscore  years  that  France  heUl 
sway  on  the  American  continent,  this 
region  was  a  famous  part  of  her  domain 
in  the  new  world. 

Later  on,  steadily  but  surely  driving 
the  French  before  them,  and  finally 
totally  depriving  them  of  their  posses- 
sions, came  the  English.  Shortly  after 
England  became  the  undisputed  owner 
of  the  region,  the  American  Revolution 
began,  and  within  twenty  years  after 
England  had  dispossessed  France  of 
this  famous  territory,  she  herself  was 
compelled  to  recognize  a  new  nation. 


formed  by  her  own  descendants,  and  to 
ceile  to  it  one-half,  or,  counting  the 
islands,  more  than  one-half  of  the  lanils 
bordering  on  the  Niagara  river.  From 
thai  time  on,  the  United  .States  and 
(ireat  Britain  have  held  undisputed 
possession  of  all  this  wondrous  section. 

Looking  back  in  history  for  the  first 
references  to  the  Niagara  region,  we 
find  them  derived  from  Indian  tradition 
or  hearsay,  and  that,  almost  entirely 
by  reason  of  the  Falls  and  Rapids. 
However,  it  was  not  their  grandeur, 
but  the  fact  that  the  Indians  were  com- 
pelled to  carry  their  canoes  so  many 
miles  around  them  that  impressed  them. 
Thus,  thee.xistenceof  a  great  fall  at  this 
point  was  known  to  the  Indians  all  over 
the  North  American  continent,  we  know 
not  how  far  back  ;  certainly  as  early  as 
the  arrival  of  Columbus  at  San  Salva- 
dor. 

I"  1535  Jacques  Cartier  made  his 
second  voyage  to  the  St.  Lawrence, 
and  the  Indians  living  along  that  river 
narrated  to  him  what  they  had  heard 
of  the  upper  part  of  that  stream,  and  of 


n/ac;a/<a  /jv  ///storv. 


tlu"  l.ikfs  bovDiul,  nu'Utiiiiiinjj,  in  luii- 
ncctioii  tlurt'witli,  a  cataract  and  a  poi- 
tage,  Lt'scarhot,  in  hia  "History  of 
New  Fraiii'i',"  puMisIicd  in  iTxmj,  ti-lls 
of  tiiis  in  his  story  of  ("artier' s  voyage. 
Tliis  is  the  caHic'st  rufi-rrucc  (1535)  to 
tho(irt'at  Laki-  n-j^inn  and  Nia^jara's 
catar.ict. 

Chanijilain,  in  his  "  Des  Sauva^H-s," 
piiljHshid  ill  l6(),v  spi-alcs  of  a  "fall." 
which  clearly,  is  Niagara. 
and  on  tiic  map,  in  his 
"\'()yaj;es,"  pul^lishcd  in 
I  fit  3,  he  locates  a  river 
with  such  approximate  ex- 
actness as  to  1)0  the  Ni.»>,'ara 
luyond  doubt,  and  in  tliat 
river  lie  indicates  a  "  sault 
d'eau,"  or  water  fall. 

In  1^)15  Idienne  nrnlc, 
who  was  Chanii)lain's  inter- 
preter, was  in  that  vicinity, 
in  the  territory  of  the  Neu- 
ter nation,  and  may  have 
been  the  first  |)ale-face  to 
have  seen  the  Falls.  In 
1626  the  Franciscan  priest 
Joseph  de  la  Roche  Dallion 
was  on  the  Niaj^ara  river  in 
the  course  of  his  missionary 
labors  among  the  Neutrals. 
It  is  more  than  probable 
that  at  this  date  the  Ni- 
agara route  westward,  as 
itistinguished  from  the  Ot- 
tawa route,  was  known  and 
had  been  traversetl  by  white 
men — the  French  traders  or 
"coureurs  de  bois"  previ- 
ously mentioned.  In  the 
1632  edition  of  his  "  Voy- 
ages," Champlain  again, 
though  inaccurately,  lo- 
cates on  his  map  a  river 
which  cannot  be  any  other 
than  the  Niagara,  and  quite  accurately 
locates  also  a  "  waterfall,  very  high, 
at  the  end  of  Lake  St  Louis  (Ontario), 
where  many  kinds  of  fish  are  stunnetl 
in  the  descent." 

In  1640  the  Jesuit  fathers  Brebeuf 
and  Chaumonot  undertook  their  mis- 
sion to  the  Neuter  nation,  the  existence 
of  the  famous  river  of  this  nation  having 
been  familiar  to  the  Jesuits  before  this 


d.itt'.  They  trosscd  from  tin-  westerly 
to  tlu;  »'.i>>lerly  slinrc  of  the  Ni.igara 
river,  re  tossing  ag.iin,  near  where  the 
\ill.ige  of  l.cwiston  now  stands,  when 
their  mission  proved  unsuccc-shil.  In 
thej<'suit  Rel.itions  wi"  find  refer<iices  to 
this  region.  In  lli.it  of  I'l.ji.  piililished 
in  Hip.  I'atlur  l.'.MKiiieiit  spe.iks  of 
'the  Neiitt-r  iiilion.  ( )iv4iii.i,ihr,i.  hav- 
ing tlu"  same  11  ime  as  the  river,"  and 


jg^^ 

i^^^^flli^ 

Kintkmmim  ^.^jLil 

»7V-/'/U^kiF-li 

^^^l^^^^^^^^'^vIB^^^^^ 

rATIlKW    IIKNNI  TIN. 

(From  nn  Kililioii  of  17112.) 

in  that  of  1648,  published  in  1649, 
Father  Ragueneau  speaks  of  "Lake 
Erie  which  is  formed  by  the  waters 
from  the  Mer  Douce  (Lake  Huron), 
and  which  discharges  itself  into  a  third 
lake,  called  Ontario,  over  a  cataract  of 
fearful  height." 

Sanson  in  his  map  of  Canada,  1657, 
correctly  locates  the  lakes  and  this  re- 
gion,   and    calls    the  Falls    ' '  Ongiara 


.V/.'1C.IA'.I    AV   ///.V7Y)A')'. 


Siiiilt."  Ill  iKivity,  i^fio.  1. 1'  Siriir 
(it-ndriii)  ri-fcra  to  the  I'lills  in  tlu- 
rx.K  I  words  of  I'atlur  KiiyiiciH'.iii 
abovi'.  Id  his  "  lli^tori.r  ('aii.Kli-ii- 
his,"  De  Crt'iixiiis  vi-ry  nearly  cor- 
rt'itly  locates  this  region  and  thf 
Niaj^ara  rivtT,  ;inil  lalK  the  halls  "  ( )n- 
jjiara  C'ataraclis."  In  i'>'ti)  I. a  Salh- 
madi'  a  visit  to  tlii'  Srm'(a>  who  dwtll 
in  wliat  is  now  known  as  Western  New 


KKNK  KOIIKKT  CAVKI.IKK,   SIKt'H    UK   LA  SAL 

(From  an  K<lition  of  1688 ) 

York.  With  him  went  Fathers  Dullier 
de  Casson  and  Rene  Gallince.  travelinj>: 
as  far  as  the  western  end  of  Lake  On- 
tario, whence  La  Salle  returned  east- 
ward. Gallinde's  journal  of  that  jour- 
ney includes  the  earliest  known  descrip- 
tion of  Niagara  Falls,  which  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

' '  We  found  a  river,  one-eighth  of  a 
league  broad,  and  extremely  rajiid, 
forming  the  outlet   or  communication 


from  I  aki- Lrie  t<t  Lak«' ( )ntario.  The 
outlet  is  40  leagues  long  and  has,  from 
loto  I  J  le.i)4Ues  ahovi'  its  emhrochiire 
into  I., ike  <  hit. trio,  one  of  the  liiiest  l.ills 
of  water  ill  the  world,  for  all  the  In- 
dians of  whom  I  have  iiKjuired  alioiit  it 
s.iv  lh.it  the  river  fills  at  tli.it  plan'  Inmi 
a  rock  Infill  r  th.m  tin*  t.illesi  pines, — 
that  is,  al'oiit  .Vm>  fit  t.  In  i.n  t,  we 
heard  it  from  the  pi, ice  where  we  were, 
.lit  ho  ugh  from  10  to  13 
Kagues  distant  ;  but  the  fall 
gives  such  a  iiionientiim  to 
the  w.iter  th.'.t  its  velocity 
prevented  our  ascending  the 
current  by  rowing,  except 
with  great  difficulty.  At  a 
(|uartt'r  of  a  league  from  the 
outlet  win  re  we  were  it 
grows  narrower  and  its  chan- 
nel is  confined  between  two 
very  high,  steep,  rocky 
banks,  inducing  the  l)elief 
tiiat  the  navigation  would 
be  very  difficult  quite  up  to 
the  cataract. 

"As  to  the  river  above 
the  falls,  the  current  very 
often  sucks  into  this  gulf, 
from  a  great  distance,  deer 
and  stags,  elk  and  roebucks, 
that  suffer  themselves  to  be 
drawn  from  such  a  point  in 
crossing  the  river  that  they 
are  compelled  to  descend  the 
falls  and  are  overwhelmed  in 
the  frightful  abyss.  I  will 
leave  you  to  judge  if  that  is 
not  a  tine  cataract  in  which 
all  the  water  of  that  large 
river  falls  from  a  height  ol 
LE.  200  feet  with  a  noise   that 

is   heard  not   only  at  the 
place  where  we  were,  10  or 
12  leagues  <listant,  but  also  from  the 
other  side  of  Lake  Ontario." 

Neither  Cialliiiec,  Champlain,  nor  any 
of  the  other  writers  quoted  heretofore, 
ever  saw  the  Falls.  In  1678  Father 
Hennepin  visited  the  Falls  and  in  1683 
published  his  first  work,  "Louisiana," 
in  which  he  tells  of  the  Niagara  river 
and  of  the  Falls  themselves,  calling  them 
500  feet  high.  On  Coronelli's  map  of 
1688  the  word  Niagara  first  appears  in 


NU<,.lh'.l    /N  ///STi^R) 


c 

ui  5' 

*.  'S 

'I 

:•» 

H  s 
i»  is 

<  S 


»■  S. 

*  a 
■<:   0 


lO 


NIACARA   IN  HISTORY. 


cartography.  In  1691  Father  Le 
Clercq,,  in  his  "Establishment  of  the 
Faith  in  New  France,"  uses  the  words 
"Niagara  Falls."  In  1697  Father 
Hennepin  published  his  "New  Dis- 
covery," in  which  he  gives  the  well 
known  description  of  Niagara  Falls, 
conimencinsf  "betwixt  the  lakes  On- 
tario and  Erie  there  is  a  vast  and  pro- 
digious cadence  of  water  which  falls 
down  after  a  surprising  and  astonishing 
manner  insomuch  that  the  universe 
does  not  afford  its  parallel."  Later 
on,  in  the  same  work,  he  describes 
them  again,  giving  their  height  as  600 
feet.  He  also  gives  in  that  work  the 
first  known  picture  of  Niagara  Falls,  re- 
produced on  page  6.  Hennepin's  two 
works  as  above,  and  a  third,  entitled 
"  Nouveau  Voyage,"  were  translated 
into  almost  all  the  languages  of  Europe 
and  by  means  of  this,  as  well  as  by  the 
work  of  Campanius  Holm,  published  in 
1702,  who  reproduces  Hennepin's 
sketch  of  Niagara,  and  by  the  works  of 
La  Hontan,  published  in  1703,  and  of 
others  later  on,  this  region  and  Niagara 
Falls  became  familiar  to  all  Europeans. 
It  was  reserved  for  Charlevoix  and 
Borassow,  each  independently  of  the 
other,  in  1721,  to  accurately  measure 
the  height  of  the  Falls. 

Hennepin  was  the  first  to  use  the 
modern  spelling  "Niagara,"  and  he 
was  followed  by  De  Nonville,  Coro- 
nelli  and  by  all  French  writers  since 
that  time.  English  writers,  on  the 
other  hand,  did  not  uniformly  adopt 
this  spelling  until  the  middle  of  the  18th 
century.  The  Neuter  nation  of  Indians 
occupied  all  the  territory  now  called 
"the  Niagara  Peninsula,"  by  far  the 
larger  number  of  their  villages  being  on 
the  western  side  of  the  river.  It  was 
the  Indian  custom  to  give  their  tribal 
name  to,  or  to  take  it  from,  the  chief  nat- 
ural feature  of,  the  country  which  they 
inhabited  ;  hence,  they  were  called 
"  Onguiaahra,  the  same  name  as  the 
river,"  as  noted  by  Father  Ragueneau. 
The  Neuter  nation  were  so  called,  be- 
cause, living  between  the  Huronson  the 
west  and  the  Iroquois  on  the  east, — 
two  tribes  which  were  sworn  enemies, — 
they  were  at  peace  with  both,  and  in 


their  cabins  the  warriors  of  these  two 
nations  met  without  strife  and  in  safety. 
The  Neuters,  however,  were  frequently 
at  war  with  other  tribes,  and  eventually 
even  their  neutrality  towards  the  Hu- 
rons  and  the  Iroquois  disappeared  and 
about  1 643  the  Senecas,  the  most  west- 
erly and  also  the  most  savage  tribe  of 
the  Iroquois  confederacy,  attacked  and 
annihilated  the  Neuters,  their  remnant 
being  merged  into  the  Iroquois. 

There  are  numerous  ways  of  spelling 
the  Indian  name  of  this  Neuter  nation, 
thirty-nine  of  them  being  given  in  the 
index  volume  of  the  Colonial  History 
of  the  State  of  New  York.  The  forms 
most  commonly  met  with  in  early  days 
were  Jagara,  Oneagerah,  Onygara, 
lagara,  Onigara,  Ochniagara,  Ognio- 
gorah,  and  those  previously  noted  in 
this  article.  The  word  Niagara,  ac- 
cording to  Marshall,  was  derived  by  the 
French  from  Ongiara.  The  Senecas, 
when  they  conquered  the  Neuters, 
adopted  that  name  as  applied  to  the 
river  and  region,  as  near  as  the  idiom 
of  their  language  would  allow;  hence, 
their  spelling,  Nyah-ga-ah.  The  word, 
thus  derived  through  the  Iroquois  anc 
from  the  Neuter  language,  is  said  to 
mean  the  "thunder  of  the  waters," 
though  this  poetic  significance  has  been 
questioned  by  some  who  claim  that  it 
signifies  "neck,"  alluding  to  the  river 
being  the  connecting  link  between  the 
two  lakes.  The  Iroquois  language  had 
no  labial  sound  and  all  their  words  were 
spoken  without  closing  the  lips.  They 
seem  to  have  pronounced  it  "  Nydh-ga- 
rah,"  and  later  on  "  Nee-ah-ga-rah," 
while  in  more  modern  Indian  dialect, 
all  vowels  being  still  sounded,  "  Ni-ah- 
gah-rah  "  was  the  ordinary  pronuncia- 
tion. Our  modern  word  "Niagara" 
should  really  be  pronounced  Ni-a-ga-ra. 

Many  were  the  superstitions  and 
legends  which  the  Indians,  living  along 
the  Niagara  river  and  in  the  whole  re- 
gion, held  as  sacred.  To  the  Neuter 
nation,  naturally,  the  Falls  of  Niagara 
appeared  in  the  nature  of  a  divinity. 
From  them  they  had  taken  their  tribal 
name,  and  considered  them  the  em- 
bodiment of  religion  and  power.  To 
them  they   offered  sacrifices   of  many 


XfAGARA   IX  HJSTORV. 


II 


kinds,  often  journeying'  long  distances 
for  the  purpose.  In  the  thunder  of  the 
Falls  they  believed  they  heard  the 
voice  of  the  Great  Spirit  In  the  spray 
they  believed  they  saw  his  habitation. 
To  him  they  regularly  and  religiously 
contrilnited  a  portion  of  their  crops  and 
of  the  results  of  the  chase,  and  exult- 
iiigly  offered  human  sacrifices  antl 
trophies  on  returning  from  such  war- 
like expeditions  as  they  were  compelled 
to  undertake.  To  him  each  warrior 
frequently  made  offerings  of  his  personal 
adornments  and  weapons,  and  as  an 
annual  offering  of  good  will  from  the 
tribe  and  a  pro])itiation  for  continued 
neutrality,  and  therefore  existence,  they 
sacrificed  each  si)ring  the  fairest  maiden 
of  their  tribe,  sending  her  over  the 
P'alls  in  a  white  canoe,  which  was  filled 
with  fruits  and  flowers  and  guided  solely 
by  her  own  hand.  Tlie  honour  of  be- 
ing selected  for  this  awful  death  was 
earnestly  coveted  by  the  maidens  of 
that  stoical  race,  and  the  clan  to  which 
the  one  selected  belonged,  held  such 
choice  to  be  a  special  honour  to  itself 
Tradition  says  tiiat  this  annual  sacri- 
fice was  al)andoned,  because,  one  year, 
the  daughter  of  the  great  chief  of  the 
tribe  was  selected.  Her  father  betrayed 
no  emotion,  but  on  the  fateful  day,  as 
the  white  canoe,  guided  by  his  daugh- 
ter's hand,  entered  the  rapids,  another 
canoe,  propelled  by  a  padille  in  her 
father's  hand,  shot  swiftly  from  the 
bank,  followed  the  same  channel  and 
reached  the  brink  and  disap|)eared  into 
the  abyss  but  a  moment  after  the  one 
which  bore  his  daughter.  The  tribe 
thought  the  loss  of  such  a  chief  in  such 
a  way  to  i^e  so  serious  a  blow  that  the 
sacrifice  was  abandoned  in  oriler  to  pre- 
vent the  possibility  of  a  repetition.  A 
more  likely,  but  less  poetic,  reason  for  its 
abandonment  lies  in  the  belief  that  on 
the  extermination  of  the  Neuters,  their 
conquerors,  having  no  such  inherent 
adoration  for  the  Great  Spirit  of  Ni- 
agara, and  for  many  years  not  even 
occupying  the  lands  of  their  victims, 
failed  to  continue  the  custom.  The 
Neuter  warriors  also  wanted  to  be  bur- 
ied beside  their  river,  as  many  exhumed 
skeletons   at   various  points  along   its 


banks  jjrove  ;  and  the  nearer  to  the 
Falls,  the  greater  the  l.onour.  (ioat 
Island  is  said  to  have  been  tiie  burying 
ground  reserved  for  great  chiefs  anil 
brave  warriors,  and  the  body  of  many 
an  Indian  brave  lies  in  the  soil  of  that 
beautifiil  s])ot. 

Prior  to  167.S  France  laid  claim  to  a 
vast  area,  now  embraced  by  Canada 
and  the  northern  portion  of  tlie  I'niled 
States,  east  of  the  Mississipj)!,  includ- 
ing the  Niagara  region,  by  reason  of 
early  explorati<jns  and  discoveries  by 
her  seamen,  traders  and  missionaries. 
From  that  date,  when  La  Salle  began 
his  westward  journeys  of  exploration,  for 
eighty  years,  .she  was  a  paramount  force 
in  that  region,  though  during  the  last  few 
years  of  that  period  her  prowess  atul 
supremacy  were  waning  and  wire  swejit 
away  in  1759  by  the  cai)ture  of  (hiebic 
and  Fort  Niagara,  the  latter  being  the 
last  of  theim])ortant  posts  that  she  held 
in  the  long  line  of  fortifications  wiiicli 
connected  the  great  tract,  known  as 
Louisiana,  with  her  eastern  Canadian 
possessions.  From  1759,  by  occujja- 
tion,  and  from  1763,  by  treaty,  luigland 
owned  all  this  territory  until  1776,  when 
the  Colonists  demanded  recognilicm  as  a 
separate  nation.  This  Kngland  con- 
ceded in  1783,  and  thus  relincjuished  all 
ownership  of  that  portion  of  the  Ni- 
agara region  that  lies  cast  of  the  river, 
although  it  was  not  until  after  tlie  ratifi- 
cation of  Jay's  treaty,  in  1796,  that 
England  relinquished  Fort  Niagara  ; 
nor  until  the  treaty  of  (ihent,  in  1S16, 
was  it  absolutely  conceded  that  most  of 
the  islands  in  the  Niagara  river  be- 
longed to  the  United  States. 

On  December  6,  1678,  La  .Salle 
anchored  his  brigantine  of  ten  tons  in 
the  Niagara  river,  just  above  its  mouth. 
He  saw  the  value,  from  a  military  stand- 
point, of  the  point  of  land  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  and  straightway  built  there 
a  trading  post.  Proceeding  up  the 
river  to  where  Lewiston  now  stands, 
he  built  there  a  fort  of  palisades,  and 
carrying  the  anchors,  cordage,  etc., 
which  he  had  brought  with  him  for  that 
purpose,  up  the  mountain  side  and 
through  the  forest  to  the  mouth  of  Cay- 
uga creek,  five  miles  above  the  Falls  on 


12 


NIAGARA  IN  HISTORY. 


THE  WHITE  MAM'S  FANCY. 


NIAGARA   IN  HISTORY. 


n 


'^■%> 


THE  RED  man's  FACT. 


14 


NIAGARA   IN  HISTORY. 


THE  BUILDING  OF  THE  GRIFFON,    1679. 

(Fac-simile  reproduction  of  the  original  copper-plate  engraving:,  first  published  in 
Father  Hennepin's  •"NouvelleDecouvcrte,"  Amsterdam,  1704.) 


the  American  side,  where  to-day  is  a 
hamlet  bearing  his  name,  he  there  built 
and  launched  the  Griffon,  the  first  ves- 
sel, other  than  Indian  canoes,  that 
ever  sailed  the  upper  lakes,  and  the 
pioneer  of  an  inland  commerce  of  un- 
told value. 

In  1687,  the  Marquis  de  Nonville, 
returning  from  his  expedition  against 
the  Senecas,  fortified  La  Salle's  trading 
post  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  but  it 
was  abandoned  during  i:he  following 
year.  It  was,  however,  rebuilt  in  stone 
in  1725  by  consent  of  the  Iroquois,  and 
thereafter  maintained.  The  site  of  the 
present  village  of  Lewiston,  named  in 
honour  of  Governor'  Lewis  of  New 
York, — the  head  of  navigation  on  the 
lower  Niagara, — was  the  commence- 
ment of  a  portage  of  which  the  unper 
terminus  was  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
above  the  Falls,  the  road  traversed 
being,  even  now,  called  the  "portage 
road."  The  upper  end  of  t'.is  portage, 
at  first  merely  an  open  landing  place 
for  boats,  necessarily  grew  into  a  fortifi- 
cation, which  was  completed  in  1750 
and  was  called  Fort  de  Portage,  or,  by 
some,  Fort  Little  Niagara.  A  short 
distance  below  the  site  of  this  fort  the 
French  built  their  barracks.    These  and 


the  fort  itself  were  burnt  in  1759  by 
Joncaire,  who  was  in  command,  to  pre- 
vent their  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
victorious  English,  and  he  and  his  men 
retreated  to  a  station  on  Chippewa 
creek,  across  the  river.  An  old  stone 
chimney,  believed  to  be  the  first  stone 
structure  built  in  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try, and  around  which  were  built  the 
French  barracks,  stands  to  day  solitary 
and  alone,  the  only  reminder  of  the 
early  commercial  and  military  activities 
at  this  point. 

It  was  in  1759  that  the  English  com- 
menced that  short,  memorable  and  de- 
cisive campaign  which  was  forever  to 
crush  out  French  rule  in  North  America. 
General  Prideaux  was  in  charge  of  the 
English  forces  thereabouts,  and,  carry- 
ing out  that  part  of  the  plan  assigned 
to  him,  collected  his  forces  east  of  Fort 
Niagara  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario. 
That  fort  had  been  strongly  fortified, 
and  this  fact,  coupled  with  its  location, 
made  its  capture  necessary  for  English 
success.  Prideaux' s  demand  for  its 
surrender  having  been  refused,  he  laid 
siege  to  it.  He  was  killed  during  the 
continuance  of  the  siege,  and  the  com- 
mand devolved  on  Sir  William  John- 
yon,  who  pushed  operations  vigorously 


NIAGARA   IN  HISTORY. 


H 


and  captured  the  fort  before  French  re- 
inforcements could  arrive. 

These  reinforcements  had  been  sent 
from  Venango,  on  Lake  Erie,  and, 
coming  down  the  Niagara  river,  had 
reached  Navy  Ishind  (Isle  de  Marine), 
then  held  by  the  French,  when  they 
heard  of  the  fall  of  Fort  Niagara.  The 
certainty  that  the  two  vessels  which  had 
brought  the  troops  and  ammunition 
from  Venango  would  be  captured  by 
the  English,  induced  the  French  to  take 
them,  together  with  some  small  vessels 


nected  with  the  great  French  and  Eng- 
lish struggle.  Cham  plain's  early  hos- 
tility to  the  Iroquois,  when  he  sided 
with  the  Senecas  against  them,  had 
made  the  Iroquois  the  firm  friends  of 
the  English  during  all  the  subsequent 
years,  and  it  had  also  endeared  the 
F"reiich  to  the  Senecas,  even  though 
the  latter  had  subsequently  joined  the 
Iroquois  confederacy. 

After  the  total  defeat  of  the  F"rcnch 
and  their  practical  surrender  of  all  their 
territory  in  1759,  the  old  hatred  of  the 


W!l!f''^7'';'"V  ■'.:.' 


^W^^ 


THIi   CAPTfRK   OF    FORT   GEORGE,    iSl'J. 

(From  au  Old  Engraviag.) 


which  had  recently  been  built  on  Navy 
Island,  over  to  the  northern  shore  of 
Grand  Island,  lying  close  by,  into  a 
quiet  bay,  where  they  set  them  on  fire 
and  totally  destroyed  them.  As  late 
?.s  the  middle  of  the  present  century, 
portions  of  these  vessels  were  clearly 
visible  under  water  in  the  arm  of  the 
river,  which,  from  this  incident,  has 
become  known  as  "  Burnt  Ship  Bay." 
One  more  historical  point,  the  scene 
of  the  Devil's  Hole  massacre,  is  con- 


English  on  the  part  of  the  Senecas, 
abetted,  no  doubt,  by  French  influences, 
led  them  to  commence  a  bloody  cam- 
paign against  the  English  in  1763. 
They  knew  the  English  were,  on  a 
certain  day,  to  send  a  long  train  of 
wagons,  filled  with  supplies  and  ammu- 
nition, from  Fort  Niagara  to  Fort 
Schlosser,  a  station,  built  in  1761  by 
Capt.  Joseph  Schlosser  of  the  English 
army,  to  replace  Fortde  Portage,  which 
had    been    destroyed   two   years    pre- 


i6 


NIAGARA   IN  HISTORY. 


vjously.  They  knew  also  that  the 
military  force  accompanying  the  train 
was  to  be  a  small  one.  At  a  point, 
known  as  the  Devil's  Hole,  about  three 
miles  below  the  Falls,  and  at  the  edge 
of  the  precipice,  they  ambushed  this 
fited  supply  train  and  destroyed  it, 
forcing  both  train  and  escort  over  the 
high  bank,  and  killing  all  but  three  of 
the  escort  and  drivers.  They  then  cun- 
ningly ambushed  the  relief  force,  which 
at  the  sound  of  the  firing  had  set  out 
from  Lewiston  where  the  English  main- 
tained a  slight  encampment,  and  killed 
all  but  eight  of  these.  It  was  a  striking 
example  of  Indian  warfare  and  of  Indian 
shrewdness.  Shortly  after  this,  in  1763, 
the  treaty  between  France  and  England 
was  signed,  whereby  England  became 
the  absolute  owner  and  master  of  the 
northeastern  portion  of  the  North 
American  continent. 

No  serious  conflict  marked  England's 
rule  in  her  new  territory,  acquired  by 
so  long  and  fierce  a  struggle  and  at 
so  great  a  cost  of  lives  and  money.  But 
thirteen  years  after  the  above  treaty  was 
signed,  the  American  Revolution  com- 
menced. Had  Gen.  Sullivan's  expedi- 
tion against  the  Senecas  in  1779,  been 
successful,  as  planned,  he  would  have 
pursued  the  dusky  warriors  who  fled  to 
Fort  Niagara,  and  would  have  attacked 
and  probably  captured  that  fort,  then 
in  possession  of  the  English  ;  but  mis- 
fortune befel  him  on  his  westward 
march,  and  the  Niagara  region  was 
never  the  scene  of  actual  hostilities  dur- 
ing that  war.  When  it  closed,  England 
had  lost  and  relinquished  to  the  United 
States  all  that  portion  of  this  region  that 
lies  east  of  the  Niagara  river. 

The  Niagara  region,  especially  that 
part  lying  along  the  banks  of  the  river, 
felt  the  full  burden  of  the  three  years  of 
border  warfare  between  American  and 
English  forces,  each  with  their  Indian 
allies,  known  in  history  as  the  war  of 
1812.  In  the  fall  of  1812,  about  four 
months  after  the  declaration  of  war. 
Gen.  Van  Rensselaer  established  his 
camp  just  east  of  the  village  of  Lewiston, 
and  collected  an  army  for  the  invasion 
of  Canada.  After  some  delay  and  one 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  dross  the  river, 


many  of  his  men  reached  the  Canadian 
shore  and  promptly  and  easily  occupied 
an  advantageous  position  on  Queenston 
Heights.  Gen.  Brock  hastened  from 
Fort  George,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
with  English  reinforcements,  and,  in 
endeavoring  to  recapture  this  point  of 
vantage,  was  killed  at  the  head  of  his 
troops.  Other  English  reinforcements 
having  arrived,  the  Americans  were 
defeated  and  dislodged  from  their  posi- 
tion, many  being  forced  over  the  edge 
of  the  bluff.  Most  of  these  and  many 
on  the  brow  of  the  mountain  were  taken 
prisoners.  Meanwhile,  directly  across 
the  river,  on  the  American  side,  in  full 
view  of  the  battle,  were  several  hundred 
American  volunteers  who  basely  refused 
to  go  to  the  aid  of  their  companions. 

The  results  of  this  first  battle  were 
most  depressing  to  the  American  cause. 
At  the  foot  of  Queenston  Heights  m 
inscribed  stone,  set  in  place  in  i860  oy 
the  Prince  of  Wales  with  appropriate 
ceremonies,  marks  the  spot  where  Gen. 
Brock  fell,  and  on  the  heights  above  a 
lofty  column  was  erected  to  his  memory 
in  1826,  as  a  monument  of  his  country's 
gratitude.  This  was  blown  up  by  a 
miscreant  in  1840,  but  was  replaced  in 
1853  by  the  present  more  beautiful 
shaft,  within  whose  foundations  Gen. 
Brock's  remains  lie  buried. 

It  was  in  November,  181 2,  that  Gen. 
Alexander  Smythe,  of  Virginia,  com- 
manding the  American  army  on  this 
frontier,  issued  his  famous  bombastic 
circular,  inviting  everybody  to  assemble 
at  Black  Rock,  near  the  source  of  the 
Niagara  river  and  to  invade  Canada. 
' '  Come  in  companies,  half  companies, 
pairs  or  singly ;  come  anyhow,  but 
come,"  was  its  substance,  and  about 
4000  men  responded.  But  Smythe 
proved  incapable,  and  having  made 
himself  a  laughing-stock  in  many  ways, 
among  others  in  challenging  Gen. 
Porter,  who  had  questioned  his  courage, 
to  a  duel  (which  challenge  was  ac- 
cepted and  shots  were  exchanged  on 
Grand  Island),  the  contemplated  in- 
vasion was  abandoned. 

In  May,  18 13,  the  Americans  cap- 
tured Fort  George  and  the  village  of 
Newark,  both  on  the  Canadian  shore; 


NIAGARA   IN  HISTORY. 


17 


near  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  held 
them  until  December  of  that  year.  So 
effectual  was  American  supremacy  at 
this  time,  that  the  English  Fort  Erie,  at 
the  source  of  the  river,  and  Chippawa, 
just  above  the  Falls,  together  with  all 
barracks  and  store  houses  along  the 
river,  were  abandoned,  and  the  English 
evacuated  the  entire  frontier.  Fort 
Erie  was  promptly  occupied  by  the 
Americans.  Several  minor  attacks  were 
made  by  small  parlies  of  English  at 
points  on  the  American  side  during 
18 13,  one  at  Black  Rock,  where  the 
English  were  badly  repulsed,  being  the 
most  important. 

In  December,  181 3,  the  British  as- 
sumed the  offensive  on  their  side  of  the 
river  and  soon  Gen.  McClure,  who  was 
in  command  of  the  American  forces 
holding  Fort  George,  determined  to 
abandon  it  and  cross  to  Fort  Niagara. 
He  blew  up  Fort  George  and  applied 
the  torch  to  the  beautiful  adjoining 
village  of  Newark.  This  was  the  oldest 
settlement  in  that  part  of  Canada,  was 
at  one  time  the  residence  of  her  lieu- 
tenant-governor, and  was  further  noted 
as  the  place  where  the  first  Parliament 
of  Upper  Canada  was  held  in  1792.  Its 
destruction  was  in  the  line  of  military 
tactics  which  leaves  nothing  to  shelter 
an  enemy  when  they  occupy  evacuated 
ground  ;  but  it  was  a  severe  winter,  the 
snow  was  deep,  and  the  sufferings  of 
those  whose  homes  were  thus  burnt, 
were  excessive. 

The  burning  of  Newark  raised  a  storm 
ofwraththroughoutCanadaand  England 
which  stimulated  the  English  forces  to 
make  great  efforts  for  victory  and  re- 
taliation. In  these  they  were  decidedly 
successful,  for  ten  days  later,  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  Col.  Murray, 
of  the  British  Army,  surprised  and  cap- 
tured Fort  Niagara.  Had  Capt.  Leon- 
ard, who  was  in  charge  of  the  Fort 
'.vhile  Gen.  McClure  was  at  his  head- 
quarters in  Buffalo,  been  vigilant,  the 
Fort  would  have,  probably,  been  suc- 
cessfully defended.  As  it  was,  it  fell 
an  easy  prey.  Lossing  says :  "  It  might 
have  been  an  almost  bloodless  victory 
had  not  the  unhallowed  spirit  of  re- 
venge demanded  victims. "    As  it  was, 


many  of  the  garrison,  including  inva- 
lids, were  bayonetted  after  all  resist- 
ance had  ceased.  The  British  General 
Riall,  with  a  force  of  regulars  and 
Indians  was  waiting  at  Queenston  for 
the  agreed  signal  of  success,  and  when 
the  cannon's  roar  announced  the  vic- 
tory, he  hurried  tliem  across  the  river 
to  the  village  of  Lewiston,  which  was 
sacked  and  destroyed  in  spite  of  such 
opposition  as  the  few  Americans  in  Fort 
Gray  on  Lewiston  Heights  could  make. 

After  a  temporary  check  on  Lewiston 
Heights  the  British  pushed  on  to  Man- 
chester (that  name  having  been  given 
to  it  in  anticipation  of  its  ultimatelv 
becoming  the  great  manufacturing  vil- 
lage of  America)  as  the  settlement  at 
the  Falls  was  then  called.  That  place, 
the  settlement  at  Schlosser,  two  miles 
above,  and  the  country  for  some  miles 
back  shared  the  fate  of  Lewiston  ;  the 
same  was  meted  out  to  Youngstown, 
near  Fort  Niagara.  The  destruction  of 
the  bridge  across  the  creek  at  Tona- 
wanda  saved  Buffalo  from  the  same  fate, 
but  only  for  a  few  days.  Gen.  Riall 
crossed  the  river  at  Queenston,  and  a 
few  days  later  appeared  opposite  Black 
Rock  which  adjoined  Buffalo.  This  he 
promptly  attacked  and  captured.  The 
hastily  gathered  and  unorganized 
American  forces  not  only  offered  little 
resistance,  but  hundreds  deserted. 
Buffalo  was  burnt,  only  four  houses 
being  left  standing,  and  many  persons 
were  killed. 

The  opening  of  the  campaign  of  18 14 
found  an  American  army  at  Buffalo,  and 
on  July  3,  Fort  Erie  surrendered  to 
the  Americans.  On  July  5,  the  Ameri- 
cans met  and,  after  a  fierce  fight,  de- 
feated the  British  in  the  memorable 
battle  of  Chippawa,  on  the  Canadian 
side,  two  miles  above  the  Falls.  Soon 
afterwards,  the  British  retreated  to 
Queenston,  followed  by  the  Ameri- 
cans under  Gen.  Brown,  who  then  de- 
termined to  recapture  Fort  George ; 
but  learning  that  the  expected  fleet 
could  not  co-operate  with  him,  he 
changed  his  plans  and  returned  to 
Chippawa.  Gen.  Scott,  reconnoitering 
from  this  place  in  the  late  afternoon  of 
July  25,  found  Gen.  Riall  with  his  re- 


iR 


NIAGARA   IN  If  IS  TORY. 


inforccd  army  drawn  up  in  line  of  buttle 
at  Lundy's  Lane.  Gen,  Scott,  with  a 
nominal  force,  but  with  the  hope  of 
gaining  time  for  the  advent  of  Gen. 
Brown  s  army,  immediately  gave  battle. 
Of  the  details  of  that  battle,  fought 
mainly  by  the  glorious  light  of  a  sum- 
mer moon,  and  continued  until  after 
midnight,  with  the  spray  of  Niagara 
drifting  over  the  heads  of  the  opposing 
armies  and  the  thunder  of  the  Falls 
mingling  with  the  roar  of  the  cannon,  it 
is  not  possible  to  recount  much.  The 
central  point  on  the  hill  was  held  by  a 
British  battery,  and  it  was  in  response 
to  an  order  to  capture  it  that  Col. 
Miller  made  his  famous  reply,  "  I'll  try. 
Sir."  He  did  try,  and  successfully, 
and  the  battery,  once  captured,  was 
the  Americans  against  oft- 
and    brave    attacks    by   the 


held  by 
repeated 
British. 

When 
treated. 


at  last  the  British  army  re- 
the  Americans  fell  back  to 
their  camp  at  Chippawa,  and  before 
they  returned  the  next  morning,  the 
British  had  once  more,  owing  to  the 
American  General  Ripley's  negligence, 
occupied  the  field  and  dragged  away 
the  cannon  which  had  been  captured 
from  them.  The  battle  of  Niagara 
Falls,  Lundy's  Lane,  or  Bridgevvater  as 
it  is  variously  called  was  claimed  as  a 
victory  by  the  British,  and  is  still  annu- 
ally celebrated,  on  the  battlefield,  as 
such.  The  Americans,  too,  regarded  it 
as  a  substantial  victory,  and  the  United 
States  Congress  voted  to  Generals 
Scott,  Brown,  Porter,  Gaines  and  Rip- 
ley gold  medals  for  their  services  in  this 
and  other  battles  of  the  war. 

The  American  army  now  returned  to 
Fort  Erie  which  they  strongly  fortified, 
and  where  they  were  besieged  on 
August  3,  by  the  British.  For  ten  days 
both  armies  were  busy  preparing  for 
the  inevitable  and  decisive  contest.  Just 
after  midnight  on  August  14,  the  British 
attacked  the  fort,  but  were  finally  re- 
pulsed. From  this  time  to  September 
17,  there  was  frequent  cannonading,  but 
on  that  date  a  sortie  from  the  fort  was 
made  by  the  Americans,  and  was  so 
boldly  planned  and  so  faithfully  exe- 
cuted, that  the  British  were  completely 


routed,  and  Buffalo  and  Western  New 
York  saved  from  invasion.  Lord  Napier 
refers  to  this  sortie  as  the  only  instance 
in  modern  warfare,  where  a  besieging 
army  was  totally  routed  by  such  a 
movement.  A  few  more  desultory  en- 
gagements occurred  along  the  Canadian 
bank  of  the  river.  Gen.  Izard  having 
assumed  command  of  the  American 
army  ;  but  the  season  was  too  far  ad- 
vanced for  any  further  offensive  opera- 
tions on  this  peninsula,  and  Canada  was 
abandoned.  Fort  Erie  was  mined,  and 
on  November  5,  1814,  was  laid  in  ruins. 
It  still  remains  so, — a  picturesque  spot. 
Some  space  has  been  devoted  to  this 
war,  although  not  a  fraction  of  what  its 
importance  demands.  During  its  con- 
tinuance almost  every  foot  of  land  along 
both  banks  of  the  Niagara  river  was  the 
scene  of  strife,  of  victory  and  defeat,  of 
triumphs  of  armies  and  of  bravery  and 
heroism  of  individuals. 

1  he  treaty  of  Ghent  restored  peace 
to  both  countries,  to  the  delight  of  all, 
especially  of  the  inhabitants  along  the 
frontier.  The  commissioners  appointed 
under  that  treaty  to  settle  the  question 
of  the  boundary  between  the  United 
States  and  Canada  agreed  subsequently 
that  that  line,  "between  Lake  Erie  and 
Lake  Ontario  should  run  through  the 
centre  of  the  deepest  channel  of  the 
Niagara  river,  and  through  the  point  of 
the  Horse  Shoe  Fall."  Later  years 
proved  this  to  be  a  variable  line  as  far 
as  the  point  of  the  Fall  is  concerned, 
though  this  fact  will  never  impair  the 
validity  of  the  boundary  line.  By  the 
above  decision  Grand  Island  and  Goat 
Island  became  American  soil,  and  Navy 
Island  fell  under  British  rule.  The 
frontier,  especially  on  the  American 
side,  recovered  rapidly  from  the  effects 
of  the  war,  for  it  was  a  section  sought 
by  settlers,  and  many  who  reached  the 
Niagara  river  on  a  projected  journey  to 
lands  farther  west,  became  residents  of 
the  locality. 

Prior  to  1825,  all  heavy  goods  were 
sent  westwards  by  Lake  Ontario  vessels 
to  Lewiston  ;  thence,  were  carted  over 
the  well-known  "Portage  road"  to 
Schlosser,  and  there  again  reloaded  into 
vessels    which    went   up   the   Niagara 


NIAGARA    IX  HISTORY 


19 


river,  pust  Black  Rock  and  Buffalo  at 
the  source  of  the  river,  and  then  out 
into  Lake  Erie.  Freights  from  the  west 
followed  the  opposite  course,  over  the 
same  route ;  and  this  carrying  trade 
along  the  frontier,  controlled  almost  en- 
tirely by  one  firm,  was  a  source  of  per- 
sonal wealth  to  its  members,  a  means 
of  livelihood  to  many  a  family,  and  a 
prominent  factor  in  the  speedy  develop- 
ment of  the  region.  On  October  26, 1 825, 
a  cannon  in  the  village  of  Buffalo,  at  the 
source  of  the  Niagara  river  boomed 
forth  its  greeting,  followed,  a  few  sec- 
onds later,  by  another  cannon,  near 
Black  Rock  ;  and  thus  thundered  can- 
non after  cannon,  down  the  Niagara 
river,  to  Tonavvanda ;  thence,  easterly  to 
Albany,  and  south,  along  the  Hudson 
river,  to  New  York  city,  announcing 
the  glad  message  that,  at  the  source  of 
the  Niagara  river,  the  waters  of  Lake 
Erie  had  just  been  let  into  that  barely 
completed  water-way,  the  Erie  Canal. 
The  completion  of  the  canal  built  up 
Buffalo,  but  at  the  same  time,  checked 
the  rapid  growth  of  the  northern  portion 
of  the  region,  by  causing  a  total  sus- 
pension of  traffic  over  the  old  portage. 
Two  events,  entirely  dissimilar  and 
in  no  way  connected  with  warlike  opera- 
tions, occurred  in  this  region  in  the  year 
1826,  and  each  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  whole  world.  The  first  was  the 
proposal  of  Major  Mordecai  M.  Noah 
to  create  a  second  City  of  Jerusalem 
within  clear  view  of  the  Falls  of  Niagara, 
by  buying  Grand  Island,  comprising 
some  18,000  acres,  and  there  building 
up  for  the  Hebrew  race  an  ideal  com- 
munity of  wealth  and  industry.  He 
even  went  so  far,  in  his  assumed  capa- 
city of  the  Great  High  Priest  of  the 
project,  as  to  lay  the  corner  stone  of 
the  future  city  of  Ararat.  This  he  did, 
not  even  within  the  boundaries  of  his 
proposed  city,  but  some  miles  away,  on 
the  altar  of  a  Christian  church  in  Buffalo, 
to  which  church,  clad  in  sacerdotal 
robes,  attended  in  procession  by  mili- 
tary and  civic  authorities,  local  societies, 
and  a  great  concourse  of  people  he  was 
impressively  escorted.  The  Patriarch 
of  Jerusalem,  however,  refused  his 
sanction  to  the  project,  money  did  not 


pour  in  to  its  support,  and  it  was  ulti- 
mately abandoned.  The  cornei  stone 
was,  however,  built  into  a  small  brick 
monument  at  White  Haven,  a  point  on 
Cirand  Island  opposite  Tonawanda,  and 
is  now  'n  the  rooms  of  the  Buffalo 
Historical  Society. 

The  other  event  was  the  reputed 
murder  of  William  Morgan,  of  Batavia, 
who  had  threatened  to  disclose  the 
secrets  of  the  masonic  fraternity  in 
print.  He  was  quietly  seized  and  taken 
away  from  his  home,  and  was  traced, 
in  the  hands  of  his  abductors,  through 
Lewiston,  to  Fort  Niagara.  There  he 
was  confined  in  what  is  still  called 
"Morgan's  Dungeon,"  a  windowless 
cell  that  was  probably  used  as  a  powder 
magazine.  All  trace  of  him  was  lost 
after  he  entered  the  fort,  and  tradition 
says  he  was  taken  from  his  dungeon 
by  night,  placed  in  a  boat,  to  be  sent, 
as  he  was  told,  to  Canada,  rowed  out 
on  Lake  Ontario,  and  forced  into  a 
watery  grave.  Several  persons  were 
arrested  and  tried  for  his  murder,  but 
no  proof  of  their  being  directly  con- 
cerned in  the  matter,  nor,  in  fact,  any 
direct  proof  of  Morgan's  death  being 
introduced,  they  were  discharged. 
Some  persons,  however,  were  sentenced 
to  imprisonment  for  conspiracy  in  con- 
nection with  the  matter.  Thus  the 
episode  upon  which  the  famous,  power- 
ful and  widespread  anti-masonic  agita- 
tion was  based,  occurred  in,  and  became 
an  integral  part  of  Niagara's  history. 

In  the  same  year,  the  first  survey  and 
report  were  made  at  Lewiston  on  a  pro- 
ject, which,  so  far  as  any  commence- 
ment of  it  is  concerned,  is  now  as  re- 
mote as  it  was  then.  Yet,  it  is  a  pro- 
ject which  has  a  national  importance,  on 
which,  in  at  least  four  surveys,  the 
United  States  Government  has  em- 
ployed some  of  its  greatest  engineers, 
and  one  which  has,  on  numerous  occa- 
sions, been  discussed  and  advocated  by 
commercial  bodies,  and  in  the  halls  of 
the  United  States  Congress  ;  namely, 
a  ship  canal,  of  a  capacity  large  enough 
to  float  the  largest  war  vessels  around 
the  Falls  of  Niagara.  From  a  point 
from  two  to  four  miles  above  the  Falls, 
to  the   deep    and    quiet    waters   near 


a'/A(;ar.i  /jv  ///s/oa'): 


Lcwistnn,  has  bct-n  the  route?  most 
generally  approvud  for  such  a  canal,  of 
which  the  cost  would  he  enormous.  The 
resultiiij^  benefits,  hosvexcr,  especially 
as  the  population  and  wealth  of  the 
United  States  increase,  mi,y:ht  be  ines- 
timable, especially  in  the  event  of  a  war 
with  ICnj^'land  and  Canatla. 

The  Nia>;ara  rej^ion  ajjain  became  the 
theatre  of  war  in  1S37,  when  the 
Patriots  undertook  to  upset  the  (lovern- 
ment  of  Canada.  While  the  first  revolt 
occurred  at  York,  now  Toronto,  the 
entire  Canadian  bank  of  the  Niajjara 
river  was  kejit  in  a  ferment  for  several 
months.  Navy  Island  was  at  one  time 
the  principal  rendezvous  of  the  Patriots, 
and  from  there,  on  December  17,  1837, 
William  I, yon  Mackenzie,  the  leader, 
sij^ninj^  himself  "Chairman  pro  tem  of 
the  provincial  (a  printer's  error,  which 
should  read  provisional)  government  of 
the  State  of  Upper  Canada,"  issued  his 
famous  proclamation  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Province. 

Without  reference  to  the  various  in- 
trigues carried  on  all  along  the  frontier 
by  the  Patriots  with  their  American 
sympathizers,  of  whom  there  were, 
doubtless,  a  goodly  number,  the  writer 
would  mention  only  the  crucial  event  of 
the  war,  the  Caroline  episode.  It  was 
openly  charged  by  the  Canadians  that 
substantial  aid  was  being  rendered  from 
the  American  side  to  the  Patriots,  both 
by  private  individuals  in  various  ways, 
and  especially  by  reason  of  the  non-in- 
terference of  the  national  and  New 
York  State  authorities  wh.?n  informed, 
on  credible  testimony,  that  arms  and 
amunition  were  being  shipped  and  other 
aid  was  being  furnished  from  American 
soil  to  the  Canadian  rebels.  This  feel- 
ing was  so  bitter  on  the  part  of  the 
English  that  it  is  not  surprising  that 
they  seized  the  first  opportunity  for 
retaliation. 

A  small  steamer,  the  Caroline,  had 
been  chartered  by  some  people  in 
BuflFalo  to  run  between  that  city,  Navy 
Island  where  the  insurgents  were  en- 
camped, and  Schlosser,  on  the  Ameri- 
can side,  where  there  was  a  landing 
place  for  boats  and  a  hotel.  They 
maintained  that  it  was  a  private  money- 


making  venture,  transporting  the  sight- 
.seers  to  the  Patriot's  camp  ;  but  from 
the  Can.ulian's  view  the  real  object  was 
to  convey  provisions  and  arms  to  their 
enemies.  On  the  night  of  December 
29,  1837,  the  Caroline  lay  moored  at 
.Schlosser  dock.  The  e.vcitement  of  the 
rebellion  had  drawn  many  people  to 
this  locality,  the  little  hotel  was  filled 
and  some  persons  had  .sought  a  night's 
loflging  on  the  boat. 

At  midnight,  si.x  boats,  filled  with 
British  soldiers,  sent  from  Chippawa  by 
.Sir  Allan  McNal),  silently  approached 
the  Caroline.  Tlie  soldiers  promptly 
boarded  her,  drove  off  all  on  board, 
both  crew  and  lodgers,  cut  her  adrift, 
set  her  on  fire,  and  again  taking  to 
their  boats,  towed  her  out  to  the  middle 
of  the  river  and  cast  her  loose.  And  a 
j^lorious  sight,  viewed  merely  from  a 
scenic  standpoint,  it  was.  The  clear 
dark  sky  above  and  the  cold  dark  body 
of  water  beneath.  Ablaze  all  along  her 
decks,  her  shape  clearly  outlined  by 
the  flames,  she  drifted  grandly  and 
swiftly  towards  the  Falls,  Reaching 
the  rapids,  the  waves  extinguished  most 
of  the  flames  ;  but,  still  on  fire,  racked 
and  broken,  she  pitched  and  tossed 
forward  to  and  over  the  Horse  Shoe 
Fall,  into  the  gulf  below.  The  whole 
affair,  the  incentive  therefor,  the 
methods  employed,  and  the  manner  of 
the  attack  caused  intense  excitement, 
and  once  again  the  Niagara  frontier  was 
threatened  with  war,  and  the  militia 
along  the  border  were  actually  called 
into  the  field. 

Long  diplomatic  correspondence  fol- 
lowed, the  British  Government  assum- 
ing full  responsibility  for  the  claimed 
breaches  of  international  kw  and  the 
acts  of  her  oflicers.  During  the  mel^e 
at  the  dock,  one  man,  Amos  Durfee, 
was  killed.  A  British  subject,  Alex- 
ander McLeod,  claimed  to  have  been 
one  of  the  attacking  force,  was  soon 
after  arrested  on  American  soil  and  was 
tried  for  the  murder  in  New  York  State, 
but  was  finally  acquitted.  War  was 
wisely  averted,  but  another  fateful  chap- 
ter had  been  added  to  Niagara' s  history. 

With  the  exception  of  the  Fenian 
outbreak  on  the  Canadian  side  of  the 


NIAdARA   IN  HISrORY 


31 


river  in  ifififi,  the  refjion  has  bc(>ii  free 
from  war's  alarinn  hIiicc  thi*  days  of  tlie 
Patriots.  The  Fenian  outbreak  was 
one  of  the  results  of  the  plan  of  the 
revolutionary  Irishmen  to  oppose  the 
Iilnglish  Government,  and  to  compel 
that  government  to  restore  Ireland's 
rights.  The  Fenian  hostility  to  Canada 
was  solely  because  of  the  fact  that  the 
latter  was  an  ICnglish  dependency.  The 
special  time  was  selected,  because  of  the 
actual  service  that  many  loyal  Irishmen 


In  i88,s.  thoStatcof  New  York,  after 
an  agitation  by  prominent  men  for  st-v- 
eral  years,  purchased  the  land  on  the 
Anierican  side,  including  (ioat  Island 
and  all  the  smaller  islands  adjacent  to 
the  F'alls,  and  al)ove  and  below  them, 
for  a  State  Reservation.  In  1M.S7,  the 
Province  of  Ontario,  Canada,  took  a 
.similar  action.  The  Canadian  (iovern- 
ment,  many  years  ago,  with  rare  fore- 
sight had  reserved  astrip  of  laud,  sixty- 
six  feet  wide,  along  the  water's  edge 


ill 

f ; 


THE  BTBAMKR  CAROL  .NK  BURNT  AND  KOHCKD  OVKR  TUB  FALLS  ON  lll'XKMMKH  39,  IR37. 

(Prom  au  Old  Eugravlng.) 


iil 


had  just  then  seen  in  the  United  States 
army  during  the  Rebellion.  Of  actual 
hostilities  on  this  frontier  there  was  but 
one  occurrence  during  the  brief  agita- 
tion, fought  on  the  Canadian  side 
opposite  Buffalo,  from  which  city  the 
Fenians  invaded  Canada.  It  was 
known  as  the  battle  of  Ridgeway,  the 
main  contest  having  been  at  that  point, 
with  a  subordinate  engagement  at  a 
hamlet  called  Waterloo,  close  to  the 
water' s  edge.  The  F'enians  were  tempo- 
rarily successful,  but  were  ultimately 
entirely  defeated  and  their  invading 
force  quickly  dispersed. 


above  the  Falls,  ;ind  along  the  edge  of 
the  high  bank  below  them,  from  Lake 
Erie  to  Lake  Ontario,  as  a  military 
reserve.  This  is  now  under  the  control 
of  the  Canadian  Park  Conimissioners, 
and,  together  with  the  adilitional  lands 
acquired  near  the  Falls,  and  the  land 
around  Brock's  Monument,  forms  an 
ideal  government  reservation. 

The  honour  of  first  suggesting  the 
preservation  of  the  scenery  about  the 
F'alls  has  been  claimed  for  many  per- 
sons. Others,  later  on,  suggested  it 
officially ;  others  still,  advocated  it 
more  publicly  and   more  persistently, 


33 


NIACARA   IN  HISTORY. 


A  RBC8NT  VIBW  OF  NIAUAKA  PAl.LS. 


NIAGARA    IN  IIISTOR). 


^y 


but  the  firnt  rcnl  suepfcfltinn,  thniif^h 
iniulc  without  any  reference  to  tU'tails, 
came  from  two  Scotchmen,  .  .ulrew 
Reed  and  Jnnu-s  Matheson,  who,  in 
1835,  in  a  work  describing  their  visit  as 
a  deputation  to  the  American  churches, 
first  broached  the  idea  that  "  Nia((ara 
does  not  belong  to  Canada  or  America. 
Such  sj)ots  sliould  be  deemed  tlie  prop- 
erty of  civilized  mankind,  and  nothing 
should  be  allowed  to  weaken  their  effi- 
cacy on  the  tastes,  the  morals,  and  the 
enjoyment  of  men." 

.Such,  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of 
the  word  ami  in  the  briefest  form,  is  an 
outline  of  the  history  of  the  Niajfara 
region.  Many  points  and  facts  of  in- 
terest have  necessarily  been  left  un- 
tC!  .  Ill,  but  brief  reference  should  be 
niau:  to  the  old  tramway,  built  from 
the  water's  edge,  at  the  very  head  of 
navigation  on  the  lower  river,  up  the 
almo.st  perpendicular  bank,  3(X3  feet 
high,  close  to  Hennepin's  "  three  moun- 
tains." It  was  used  in  very  early  days, 
probably  before  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, for  raising  and  lowering  heavy 
goods  between  the  vessels  and  the  port- 
age wagons,  and  consisted  of  a  flat  car, 
on  broad  runners,  moving  on  wooden 
rails.  It  was  raised  and  lowered  by  a 
windlass,  and  this  latter  was  operated 
by  Indian  labour  then  accessible  only 
at  the  Indians'  own  price.  Braves  who 
ordinarily  would  scorn  to  work  at  any 
manual  labour,  gladly  toiled  all  day  for 
a  plug  of  tobacco  and  a  pint  of  whiskey. 
The  tramway  was  notable  as  being  the 
first  known  adaptation  of  the  crude 
principle  of  a  railroad  in  the  United 
States. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  mention  also, 
the  reservation  of  the  Tuscarora  Indians, 
east  of  Lewiston,  where  the  half-breed 
remnants  of  the  last-embraced  tribe  of 
the  Six  Nations  now  reside,  cultivating 
their  fields,  and  educating  their  children 
under  the  care  of  the  State.  A  tribute 
also  is  due  to  Canadian  foresight  in  the 
building  of  the  Welland  Canal  which 
connects  Canada's  frontage  on  the 
Great  Lakes  with  her  system  of  St. 
Lawrence  canals  to  the  seaboard. 
Mention,  finally,  should  be  made  of  the 
modern  suggestion  of  a  ship  railway 


around  the  Falls,  touching,  at  its  termi- 
nals, about  the  same  points  on  the 
upper  and  lower  river  as  those  helil  in 
view  in  the  |)reviously-suggested  ship 
canal,  and  proposing,  in  the  a.scent  and 
descent  of  the  Li-wiston  mountain 
(which  was  the  old  shore  of  Lake 
Ontario  before  it  rrcedcd  to  its  present 
level),  as  remarkable  a  triumph  of  engi- 
neering skill  as  was  sh<»wn  in  the 
enormous  |)rojectcd  locks  and  one  hun- 
dred-acre basin  of  the  ship  canal. 

Next,  glance  back  to  the  many  Indiim 
villages  which,  long  years  ago,  dotted 
the  region,  the  four  or  more  of  the 
Neuter  nation,  or  Kahkwas,  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  river,  and  a  much 
larger  number  on  the  western  side ; 
later  on,  to  the  gradual  occupation  of 
these  lands  by  the  .Senecas,  almost  three 
generations  after  their  ancestors  had 
annihilated  the  Neuters  ;  then,  to  the 
.Seneca  village,  built  on  the  site  of  the 
present  city  of  Huffalo,  and  then  to  the 
one  built  yi-ars  ago  on  the  site  of  the 
village  still  called  Tonawanda,  where, 
of  late  years,  at  the  "  long  house,"  was 
annually  held  the  council  of  the 
remnants  of  the  .Six  Nations  ;  and  then 
at  the  docks  in  that  village  where  once 
floated  the  Indian's  canoe,  and  where 
now  is  seen  the  maze  of  vessels  whose 
cargoes  have,  in  the  last  two  decades, 
built  up  the  commercial  trade  of  this, 
the  second  largest  lumber  market  in 
America. 

Turn,  next,  to  the  geological  page 
and  recall  the  ever  fresh  and  still  much- 
discus.sed  question  as  to  the  ages  that 
it  has  taken  the  Falls  to  cut  their  way 
back  from  Lewiston  to  their  present 
location ;  consider,  too,  the  (juestion 
regarding  the  time  when  a  great  inland 
sea  covered  the  whole  region,  of  which 
proof  is,  even  to-day,  found  in  the 
shells  wliich  underlie  the  soli  on  Cloat 
Island  and  the  adjacent  country.  Con- 
sider, further,  the  query  as  to  when 
and  why  the  great  flood  of  waters 
abandoned  its  old  channel  which  ran 
westward  from  the  whirlpool  to  the 
edge  of  the  bluflf  at  St.  Davids,  far  to 
the  west  of  the  present  outlet  of  the 
river  into  Lake  Ontario,  and  how  that 
old  channel,  still  easily  traceable,  was 


24 


NIAGARA    IN  HISTORY. 


filled  up  to  nearly  the  level  of  the  sur- 
rounding country. 

Look  also  at  the  view,  given  in  very 
recent  years  by  nature,  of  how  her  forces 
worked  to  excavate  the  Niagara  gorge 
in  the  mass  of  old  Table  Rock,  left  hang- 
ing over  the  abyss  for  years  and  falling 
by  its  own  weight  in  1853.  Remember 
the  thrilling  trip  of  the  little  steamer 
"Maid  of  the  Mist,"  which,  from  the 
quiet  waters  of  her  usual,  circumscribed 
limit  below  the  Falls,  was,  in  1861, 
taken  through  the  mad  rapids  safely 
into  the  whirlpool  and,  thence,  through 
the  lower  rapids  into  Lake  Ontario, — 
the  only  vessel  that,  during  the  100 
years  of  Queenston's  existence  as  a  port 
of  entry,  ever  entered  it  from  up-stream; 
and  which  vessel  was  compelled  by  the 
canny  officer  then  in  charge  of  the  port, 
to  take  out  entrance  and  clearance 
papers,  although,  according  to  these, 
sae  carried  "no  passengers  and  no 
freight. "  The  trip  of  that  litde  steamer 
proved,  so  far  as  the  river  below  the 
Falls  was  concerned,  what  the  courts 
have  since  decided,  that  the  Niagara 
river  throughout  its  entire  length  is  a 
navigable  stream. 

Finally,  think  of  Niagara  as  the 
Mecca  of  all  travelers  to  the  New  World, 
think  of 

"  what  troops  of  tourists  have  encamped  upon 
the  river's  brink. 
What  poets  have  shed  from  countless  quills, 
Niagaras  of  ink." 

Turn  also  to  the  long  list  of  noted 
persons  who  have  paid  their  devotions 
and  tributes  at  Niagara' s  shrine.  Poten- 
tates and  prifices  have  come,  gazed  on 
the  Falls,  and  gone  away,  their  visit  to 
Niagara,  perhaps  like  their  lives,  color- 
less and  without  a  trace.  Then,  with 
grepter  satisfaction,  turn  to  the  large 
number  of  famous  men  and  women,  un- 
crowned, but  still,  by  reason  of  their 
abilities,  rulers  of  the  people,  who  by 
their  words,  their  pens,  or  their  pencils, 
have  given  their  impressions  of  the 
cataract  to  the  world,  and  have,  at  least, 
earned  for  themselves  thereby  the  right 
to  be  allowed  a  niche  in  Niagara's 
temple  of  fame.  And  numerous  are  the 
names  of  men  and  women  who,  in  these 
and  other  ways,  have  connected  their 
names    wi"h    Niagara,    embracing  the 


leaders  in    every   branch  of  science, 
knowledge  and  art. 

There  is  yet  another  set  of  men  whose 
greatest  notoriety  has  been  acquired  at 
Niagara.  Among  these  are  Francis 
Abbott,  "the  hermit  of  Niagara," 
whose  solitary  life,  close  to  the  Falls 
themselves,  and  his  death  by  drowning, 
have  stood  as  a  perpetual  proof  of  the 
influence  of  the  great  cataract  on  human 
nature ;  Sam  Patch,  whose  daring  led 
him  to  make  two  jumps  from  a  scaffold, 
100  feet  high,  into  the  deep  waters  at 
the  base  of  the  Goat  Island  cliff,  safely 
in  both  cases,  although,  not  long  after- 
wards, a  similar  attempt  at  the  Genesee 
Falls  proved  to  be  his  last ;  Blondin, 
whose  marvelous  nerve  led  him  repeat- 
edly, and  under  various  conditions,  to 
cross  the  gorge  on  a  tight-rope  ;  Joel 
Robinson,  whose  life  was  often  risked 
thereabouts  to  save  that  of  others ; 
and  Matthew  Webb,  whose  prowess  as 
a  swimmer  led  him  to  try,  unaided  by 
artificial  appliances,  to  swim  through 
the  whirlpool  rapids,  in  which  attempt 
he  lost  his  life. 

Of  early  Indian  names  on  the  frontier, 
two  are  specially  prominent, — Red 
Jacket,  a  Seneca,  the  greatest  of  all 
Indian  orators,  who  spent  most  of  his 
long  life  near  Buffalo,  and  died  there, 
and  who  fought,  with  the  rest  of  his 
tribal  warriors,  in  the  American  army 
in  the  war  of  1 8 1 2  ;  and  John  Brant,  son 
of  the  famous  Joseph  Brant,  a  Mohawk, 
educated  mainly  at  Niagara  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river  in  Canada,  whose 
first  leadership  in  war  was  as  an  ally 
of  the  British  at  the  battle  of  Queenston. 

Forever  and  inseparately  connected 
with  the  Niagara  region  will  be  the 
names  of  all  of  the  persons  here  referred 
to,  some  mentioned  merely  as  members 
of  a  class,  others  individually.  Among 
the  first  on  this  roll  of  honour,  as  they 
weie  among  the  first  to  view,  depict, 
and  describe  the  Falls,  are  the  names 
of  La  Salle  and  Hennepin, — the  intrepid 
explorer,  and  the  noble,  though  much 
villified,  priest,  for  since  1678  there  has 
been  no  portion  of  the  globe  to  which 
the  attention  of  mankind  has  been  more, 
and  in  more  ways,  attracted  than  to 
this  Niagara  region. 


